Holiday ban for tourism workers: That decision has become official

With the new regulation accepted in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, working conditions in the tourism sector have been fundamentally changed. According to the law that entered into force with the approval of President and AKP Chairman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, workers employed in accommodation facilities certified by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism will now work for 10 consecutive days, not one day per week. They will only be able to take a holiday on the 11th day.

This new system envisages a transition to a 10+1 system, ending the 6 days of work + 1 day of holiday (6+1) arrangement that has been applied in the sector for many years.

One of the most striking articles in the law is that if workers who work for 10 days also work on their holiday days, these periods will not be counted as overtime. In other words, workers who are forced to work on their weekly holiday will not receive any additional pay for this work.

Furthermore, the law does not contain any provision regarding when and how unused weekly holidays will be utilized. 

IT HAS BECOME OFFICIAL

The new law has entered into force in the Official Gazette with the signature of President and AKP Chairman Erdoğan.

The law stated the following:

ARTICLE 9- The following sentences have been added to the first paragraph of Article 46 of the Labor Law No. 4857 dated 22/5/2003.

“However, the weekly holiday to which workers employed in accommodation facilities certified by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism are entitled within the scope of this paragraph may be utilized within four days following the day they become entitled to it, upon the written request or approval of the worker. In this case, the portion of the work performed by the worker on the weekly holiday they are entitled to, which corresponds to the daily normal working period, is not taken into account in the calculation of overtime work. The worker may withdraw the approval they have given, provided that they notify the employer in writing thirty days in advance.”

The Constitution and the Labor Law still grant the worker the right to a 24-hour uninterrupted holiday within 7 days. Court of Cassation decisions also emphasize that this right should not be violated. In current practice, a worker who works on their weekly holiday is paid 1.5 times the overtime rate or is granted the right to time off. The new regulation renders this practice invalid.

REACTION TO SLAVERY AND CALL TO THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT FROM AZIZ ÇELIK

Prof. Dr. Aziz Çelik, an expert on social policies and labor economics, reacted to the regulation on his X account.

Stating that the right to rest, which is guaranteed by the Constitution, has been destroyed, Çelik said that this order could also spread to other sectors. Çelik called for an appeal to the Constitutional Court for the annulment of the law.

Çelik stated the following:

Slavery has been reinforced in the tourism sector!

A 10-day work week and an 11-hour workday!

The law, which effectively increases the period that must be worked to use the right to a weekly holiday in tourism from 6 days to 10 days, was approved by the President and published in today's (July 14, 2025) Official Gazette.

Thus, tourism workers lose the right to work 6 days and take 1 day of weekly holiday. They will use the weekly holiday they are entitled to on the 11th day, not the 7th day.

Moreover, workers who are made to work on the weekly holiday they are entitled to will not be paid overtime.

This regulation is the destruction of the right to rest, which is guaranteed by the Constitution.

The regulation is contrary to the provision of the Constitution regarding the right to rest and the principle of equality.

The regulation is also contrary to international conventions ratified by Turkey.

This regulation is a clear attack on the right to a weekly holiday and the right to rest, and it may spread to other sectors.

With this regulation, the working order in the tourism sector has become even more arbitrary. It has become completely unregulated.

As is known, with another change made in the Labor Law in the past, the balancing period that allows the daily working time to be increased to 11 hours is applied for 4 months, not 2 months, like other workers.

In other words, working 11 hours a day for 4 months becomes legal.

It is not surprising in a country where the tourism minister is a tourism boss! The boss wants flexible and unregulated work!

With the new regulation, a 10-day work week and 11-hour workday order has now been adopted in the tourism sector.

This law, which increases the week from 7 days to 10 days, must be taken to the Constitutional Court for annulment.